Safety News in Brief

Air Safety Week, Oct 2, 2006

Date: 27-Sep
Incident: Tanzanian airline, Precision Air has completed a mandatory
international safety audit. Last week, it became the third African airline to
be audited under the International Air Transport Association's Operational
Safety Audit program. The process began two years ago with a gap analysis and
pre audits, before the eventual assessment. Kenya's national flag carrier,
Kenya Airways - which has a 49 per cent share stake in Precision Air - and
South African Airways are the only IOSA-compliant airlines on the continent.
The audit looks at an airline's operations to see whether it is complying with
international standards set by IATA. The test gives airlines international
recognition and allows them to expand their markets. Precision Air flies to 15
destinations and has 324 departures in a week. Precision Air placed an $87-
million order in August for six new Airbus aircraft.

Date: 26-Sep
Incident: The NTSB says the pilots of the Comair flight that crashed in August
in Lexington, Ky., after taking off from the wrong runway had a few moments to
notice the error. The plane paused for 45 seconds at a spot that was on the way
to both the wrong runway and the correct runway.

Date: 25-Sep
Incident: A horse rider saw a 'sizzling hot' piece of metal fall from the sky
as a BA plane made an emergency landing at Manchester airport. The metal disc
the size and shape of a dinner plate, landed south of the Airport in a field
and was later discovered to be part of the exhaust from the aircraft's number
two engine.Over thirty passengers were on board the BA Connect flight on August
9th last year. As it took off for Aberdeen Airport a bearing in the engine
'failed catastrophically'. The pilot made a mayday distress call, when he heard
a bang as the aircraft vibrated heavily and suddenly veered to the right. It
was later discovered a bearing had broken in the engine, fracturing a power
turbine shaft and causing other damage. It is thought the bearing had been
cracking over a period of time.

Date: 25-Sep
Incident: A Ryanair flight from London to Derry was forced to turn back last
night after a crew member fell ill with suspected food poisoning. The airline
has disclosed few details of the incident, but passengers say they were around
15 minutes from Derry when an announcement was made that the captain had
collapsed and the plane was turning back to Stansted Airport. He is believed to
have suffered food poisoning and was treated by doctors on board the plane
before it landed.

Date: 25-Sep
Incident: Over the next 18 months, FedEx will equip 11 of its Boeing MD-10
Freighters with a missile deterrent system designed by Northrop Grumman. Called
the Guardian, the defense system uses a multi-band laser to throw off the
infrared heat detectors employed in many shoulder-fired missiles. The move is a
part of a $109 million feasibility study conducted by the Department of
Homeland Security to see if such a system can be implemented fleet-wide in a
cost-effective manner. The bathtub-sized Guardian system is also certified for
use on the MD-11 and Boeing's 747. Competitor BAE Systems is also working on
missile-defense technology -- and both manufacturers believe their systems are
ready for prime time, with an estimated cost per passenger seat mile (CASM) of
$.003.

Date: 15-Sep
Incident: An EasyJet A319 (G-EZAC) had a major electrical failure and diverted
to Bristol after the Captain contacted ATC via his mobile phone. Diagnosed as
an Essential AC bus failure, although the only electrical power available was
from AC2, DC2 and the battery. AC essential could not be recovered. Airbus
training does not cover actions in the event of no power from the DC essential
bus ? because it theoretically can't happen! A/C was grounded until Sep 21st (
AAIB and Airbus involved) by which time a very significant number of electrical
components had been replaced. No reason for the failure has yet been found, or
at least reported, but the aircraft is back in service. The effect of the
failure was similar in some ways to the BA A319 incident in Oct 05 where all
screens except the lower ECAM display (SDU) were lost. In the EZY case the
F/O's PFD and ND were also powered, although they may have been in a degraded
mode.After the BA A319 incident the AAIB recommended that the MMEL should be
changed so that despatch i

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